APHIWE MTHEMBU
Durban — Tributes continued to pour in for a Durban couple and a friend who died from what is thought to have been carbon monoxide poisoning.
Kyle Richards, his wife Taylene Richards, their puppy and their friend, identified as Musa, were found dead in a house in Rosary Road, Greenwood Park, on Monday.
Lecrae Christelle, wrote on social media, “I’m writing this with an absolute heavy heart ...Yesterday Heaven Gained Two beautiful Angels, R.I.P to my one and only brother Kyle Richards and his wife Taylene Richards. Words cannot describe the amount of shock and pain we are all in. Love you guys to the moon and back till we meet again.”
Another friend, Rajhan Dhoopraj, said: “If the deaths are due to the generator fumes then eThekwini and Eskom need to take responsibility for this. This government is putting people through all kinds of inconvenience. The company that first supplied electricity to South Africa had to pay huge fines even if there were disruptions for a few minutes.”
Delon Twynham, the couple’s employer and relative, said he was worried when they didn’t show up for work but did not take any action because they were still young. He thought they may have gone out for a few drinks and couldn’t come to work.
“I tried to call them several times but they both didn’t answer my call. On Sunday, they did not come to work, as well as Monday. At 9am I received a call from Kyle’s mother-in-law as she was concerned about the children as they came to visit her over the weekend.
“I told Kyle’s mother-in-law to come to my workshop so we could go to their house. That is when we discovered they were no more.”
Bruce Degiera, the North Durban Fire and Emergency Services divisional commander, said the service was called for assistance and the fire department from the north division conducted a thorough inspection and identified a generator.
“The people were deceased already when we came in, we assisted the police removing the bodies in the house. There was no explosion, it was just three lifeless bodies and a dog inside the house,” Degiera said.
The KZN VIP Protection Services said there was no power in the area due to cable theft.
“Inside the occupants’ house there was a petrol generator that ran dry, the needle was empty which possibly led to smoke inhalation and carbon dioxide inhalation the cause of death.”
KZN VIP spokesperson Gareth Naidoo said the deceased might have been afraid to put the generator outside due to high crime rates in the area.
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Daily News